Louis Jordan Movies

This program contains 35 songs performed by jazz saxophonist Louis Jordan who scored 57 R&B chart hits between 1945 and 1951. A few of the songs presented here include Honey Chile and That Chicken's Too Young To Fry. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

Bluesland: A Portrait of American Music presents a swinging look at the history and highlights of a rich musical heritage. Rare footage and concert films fill out this 90-minute documentary. As the soundtrack for the downtrodden, the blues has blossomed in folk circles. The characters that populate its landscape are both brilliant and tragic. Such artists making appearances in Bluesland: A Portrait of American Music are Bessie Smith, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Writers Albert Murray and Robert Palmer discuss the evolution of the blues. ~ Sarah Ing, Rovi

Though atrociously directed, the all-black Look Out Sister is saved by its exuberant musical numbers. Bandleader Louis Jordan imagines that he's in charge of a dude ranch. Posing as a rootin' tootin' gunslinger, Jordan saves Suzette Harbin from the mustache-twirling machinations of Monty Hawley. The film's 64-minute running time easily accommodates eleven first-rate songs, most of them performed by Jordan and his Tympany Six. If you're looking for a genuine all-black western rather than a musical posing as a sagebrusher, try Herb Jeffries' Bronze Buckaroo or Harlem on the Prairie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the few all-black productions of the 1940s to garner attention in the "white" trade press, Beware is a vehicle for bandleader Louis Jordan, here cast as a college alumnus named Lucius Brokenshire Jordan. Thanks to the economic duplicity of its benefactor's grandson, Jordan's alma mater runs out of money. When he learns about the college's plight, our hero not only stages an impromptu fund-raising show, but also settles the hash of the crooked grandson. In its own modest way, the film pokes fun at the snobbery of college faculty members who look down their noses at graduates who enter show business rather than pursue more "worthwhile" careers. Costarring with Louis Jordan are Frank Wilson and Valerie Black, both cast members of Broadway's Anna Lucasta. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi